I have read many posts about the great/good exchanges that many of you have made with your AC. Others seem to think they are pretty useless or not much better than a getaway vacation. Either there's BIG differences in the quality of the ACs ,or some of you have figured out how to use the system better than most of us. Care to share you secrets?
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How do you make best use of II AC?
- Thread starter cgiblin
- Start date
Here are my secrets:
1) if you are eligible for one and want to travel in a certain season, try to get it at the end of that season (summer) so that you have an entire calendar year before that season comes up again. For me that's summer and I try to get mine by about the end of August.
2) if you have somewhere that you want to go that is in the grid, just grab it when the place you want comes up. You need to look at the web site regularly (daily).
3) if you want to travel in high season, or the season mentioned in 1 above, you'll probably need to do it in flexchange. Again, you'll need to look at the web site daily.
The last three excanges I've received for my 1BR AC are:
- 3BR Grande Vista, last week of June (flexchange)
- 1BR Old Key West, Martin Luther King week in January (grid)
- 2BR Grand Vista, Thanksgiving week (grid)
FWIW, I use the same flexchange approach with my studios if they don't match an ongoing trade.
1) if you are eligible for one and want to travel in a certain season, try to get it at the end of that season (summer) so that you have an entire calendar year before that season comes up again. For me that's summer and I try to get mine by about the end of August.
2) if you have somewhere that you want to go that is in the grid, just grab it when the place you want comes up. You need to look at the web site regularly (daily).
3) if you want to travel in high season, or the season mentioned in 1 above, you'll probably need to do it in flexchange. Again, you'll need to look at the web site daily.
The last three excanges I've received for my 1BR AC are:
- 3BR Grande Vista, last week of June (flexchange)
- 1BR Old Key West, Martin Luther King week in January (grid)
- 2BR Grand Vista, Thanksgiving week (grid)
FWIW, I use the same flexchange approach with my studios if they don't match an ongoing trade.
MarTN
TUG Member
As the 59 day mark approached, I searched several times/day so I was familiar with "not-hard-to-get" stuff that always came up. When the dates I needed finally came into range, I grabbed a 1-bedroom at Grande Vista in Orlando for spring break. Prior to that I had seen only studios (and after that as well). Within a week, most of the stuff that had been sitting there prior to the 59 day mark was gone.
So either folks were waiting until that point to search or they gave up seeing anything better and took what they could.
But wow, $249 for 7 nights at a Marriott is an amazing price, even for a one-bedroom.
So either folks were waiting until that point to search or they gave up seeing anything better and took what they could.
But wow, $249 for 7 nights at a Marriott is an amazing price, even for a one-bedroom.
Couldn't agree more. I am paying $299 for a 2BR Grande Vista during Thanksgiving week. Marriott is charging $255 per night during that week.
MarTN said:
Orlando Marriott for Thanksgiving has been my favorite AC use; I was able to do it far enough in advance to get good airfare. The 59 window is great, but tough without plane tickets; though I am considering buying my air for Hilton Head this summer and hoping for the best!!
It seems most of exchanges just mentioned are from the "grid".Orlando and Aruba seem to be popular destinations. I believe that Hilton Head in the summer is not on the grid. This means that it's possible /reasonable to expect that it might show up during the 60 day window??
debraxh
TUG Member
Anything is possible...but I don't know about reasonable. If you can travel off season, within 60 days, or to places on the grid, you will have the best success.cgiblin said:
Aruba would seem probable since I frequently see it available online and Orlando is usually on the grid. However all ACs are not equal and YMMV.
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
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- 5,529
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- Location
- Toronto
- Resorts Owned
- Marriott Manor Club - 3 weeks platinum, 2 weeks at Marriott Beachplace Towers, and 1 week at Marriott Canyon Villas
With 6 weeks, even when I turn 2 in each year for points, the lockoff splits and banked weeks give me more weeks than I can usually use. The AC's are nice bonuses but I seldom get to use them myself. As a result, I use them for top performer staffers at my companies - and do they go over big time!!
I book them within the 59 day window for best selection and tell them that there could be problems with summer weeks and prime weeks depending when they want to go. Never had a complaint .. really top performers get air as well.
There was a time, not that long ago, that you had to use them yourself and I must have had 4 or 5 of them go unused - glad II saw the light and a way to move some merchandise. The guest fee is annoying.
Brian
I book them within the 59 day window for best selection and tell them that there could be problems with summer weeks and prime weeks depending when they want to go. Never had a complaint .. really top performers get air as well.
There was a time, not that long ago, that you had to use them yourself and I must have had 4 or 5 of them go unused - glad II saw the light and a way to move some merchandise. The guest fee is annoying.
Brian
Dani
TUG Lifetime Member
cgiblin said:
II's AC's are amazing IMHO. What you should know is that there are in fact big differences between AC's. They will basically trade much like the week that was deposited for the AC. You can get some really nice vacations outside of the 59-day Flexchange time-frame and some great exchanges within the 59-day time-frame.
You must however time when you want to receive the AC. For instance, do not deposit your weekin May 2006 when you know that you want to use your AC in the summer of 2007. You only have one-year to use the AC.